Heel-cushion.



M. B. CRANE:

HEEL CUSHION.

APPLICATION IILED JAN. 26, 1907.

927,83 1. Patented July 13, 1909.

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ETD STAES PATENT @FETCE.

MERRITT B. CRANE, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO ASA R. CREDIFORD, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

HEE L- CUSHION.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MERRITT B. CRANE, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful I-Ieel-Cushion, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in resilient devices designed to be placed in boots and shoes at the heel, and consists of a plate attached to the underside of a lift of leather or other suitable material, with a spring of peculiar construction attached beneath such plate, all as hereinafter set forth; and the object of my invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive yielding support or heel cushion capable of being inserted in the heel of a boot or shoe and adapted when in position to prevent jar and shock to the heel of the wearer of the boot or shoe in walking and to afford ease and comfort while standing. This device is introduced between the heel of the wearer and the insole of the ordinary boot or shoe, no special boot or shoe being needed, and absorbs as it were the vibrations produced by walking in places where the wearer would otherwise experience a continually recurring jar, as on pavements and the like. I attain this object by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which 7 Figure 1 is a side View of my improved heel cushion uncompressed, showing the same in place in a shoe which is represented by dotted lines; Fig. 2, a bottom view of the cushion; Fig. 3, a view similar to Fig. 1, except that the cushion is shown compressed by a foot represented like the shoe by dotted lines, only the heel and instep portions of the foot in this and corresponding portions of the shoe in this and the first view being outlined, and, Fig. 1, a top view of said cushion.

Similar views refer to similarparts throughout the several views.

In Figs. 1 and 3 so much of a shoe as is required in the application of my device is represented by the dotted lines 10, and in Fig. 3 that part of a feet which comes in contact with said device is also represented by the dotted lines 11.

The cushion is made up of a lift 12, a plate 13, and a helical spring 14, said lift being of leather or other more or less flexible material and said plate consisting generally of sheet- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 26, 1907.

Patented July 13, 1909.

Serial No. 854,186.

the heel and extend into the shank portion of the shoe 10, but an accurate or close lit need not necessarily obtain. The 'frontedgero'f the lift is preferably skived 0r beveled as shown at 15. nearly simulates that of the lil't12, but said plate is considerably shorter than said lift and otherwise of somewhat smaller proportions. The plate 13 is fastened at its front end to the bottom of the lift 12 by means of the corner pieces 16-16 of said plate which are bent upward through said lift and back ward and downward. onto the upper surface of the latter into or beneath which they may be embedded. No other fastening means between the lift and plate need be employed. On the underside of the plate at the back is a lug 17, generally formed out of the plate itself, having a passage theretln'ough laterally of the plate. One end of the spring 14, the end which is in reality at the base of the spring although said spring in practice is here inverted, is passed through the lug 17. The end. of the spring which is received by the lug 17 has an offset 18 thereon,preferably di rected toward the axial center of the spring, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, and this oll'set performs the double ollice of producing a frictional or binding contact between the spring and the lug sullicient to prevent the former from accidentally becoming disengaged from the latter, and of holding the base of the spring against the bottom of the plate when the parts are normally positioned. Without such an offset as I have provided the spring would be very liable to become detached from the plate and it would hang down in the way whenever the device was placed in a shoe and removed therefrom. The end of the spring at the apex is bent inward or upward as shown at 19, the object of this being to prevent said end from injurii'ig and unduly wearing the insole of the shoe, as it would be sure to do in the absence of this provision.

I employ a helical spring because that form affords a greater degree of compression in a spring of a given length than an ordinary spiral spring, since it can be pressed together flat with one coil lying within another; and I invert such spring for the reason that it more readily iinds its proper place in the shoe when in this form or position and at the same time offers a broader support or a support of greater area immediately under the lift and metal. The lift 12 is so shaped as to iit into plate which are necessarily quite thin.

The contour of the plate 13 very- With the spring inverted there is no danger of the plate becoming bent or of the spring getting twisted out of its proper relation with the plate, as there might be in case the spring were employed with its base down furthermore, the device is more convenient and easier to handle for the purpose of placing it in a shoe and taking it out of a shoe.

In practice, after the cushion has been in troduced into the heel of the shoe with the lift 12 uppermost, the spring 14 affords the necessary amount of resiliency to the foot in walking and in standing as well, being compressed more or less each time the wearer steps or moves the foot, the amount of compression depending, of course, on the weight of the wearer and the force with which he or she steps. This yielding support for the heel, which is continually compressed by the pressure of the foot and as often expands when the pressure is decreased or removed, is very restful, agreeable and comfortable. The superimposed plate and lift furnish a broad and natural support for immediate contact with the foot and prevent the spring from being felt by actual contact. The device can be readily removed from one shoe and placed in another.

It will be seen that the purpose of the beveled end 15 of the lift 12 is to do away with any appreciable ridge beneath the instep where said lift joins the insole.

I am aware that many different kinds of resilient heel cushions have been made before and that helical springs even have been used in some instances, therefore I do not seek to claim the same broadly, but

NVhat I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. The combination, in a heel cushion, of a lift capable of being placed in the heel of a boot or shoe, a plate on the underside of said lift having a lug cut therefrom and formed on the bottom thereof, and a coil-spring having a curved offset at one end directed toward the axial center of such spring and arranged and adapted to enter above said lug and frictionally engage the sides of the same.

2. The combination, in a heel cushion, of a lift capable of being placed in the heel of a boot or shoe, a plate on the underside of said lift, such plate having its corners bent so as to penetrate the lift and fasten the plate thereto and being provided with a lug on the bottom which has a passage therethrough, and an inverted helical spring having an offset at its base end arranged and adapted to enter said passage and to frictionally engage the sides thereof, and having an inwardly or upwardly turned end at its apex.

MERRITT B. CRANE.

Witnesses F. A. CUTTER, P. H. MARTIN. 

